kranky813

aaahhh I have to up my Biotin then because I am falling out! congratulations on the new hair! I am a bit jealous

Oh I hear you. People will call me "small" and I don't get it. Half the time I don't think they are talking to me. I just shrug and think they are just trying to be nice. I honestly don't get it. I also added a few photos to my profile for reference. 2 are Pre-Op and 2 are from a week ago. I still don't see a difference, LOL.

@@TiffanyLM Every single person is different and has a different experience with surgery. I can only tell you what I went through. I was very nervous before surgery with a lot of the same concerns that you are having. Will it hurt? Will I regret it? Etc... For me it didn't really hurt at all. After surgery they kept me pretty drugged up and I slept most of the day of surgery. I had surgery at 7am and was in my hospital room at about 8:30am. I do remember getting up several times to go to the bathroom and walk around a bit but I slept a lot. On day 2 I still went to the bathroom a lot (darn IVs) and walked a lot. I felt pretty good for just having surgery. Again not a lot of pain. The weird thing was having no desire to eat or drink anything. It was a weird sensation of not wanting to put anything in my mouth. Anyway - I had surgery on a Thursday and went home Friday late afternoon and slept all the way through to Saturday at 10am. When I woke up I had the weirdest feeling. Like I was floating outside of my body. Something didn't feel right and I called my surgeon who told me to come in. This was on a Saturday so he sent me to the ER and met me there. I was severely dehydrated so they hospitalized me for 3 days. This is why it is so important to sip Water constantly. I slept so much I didn't drink anything and I got dehydrated. So once I was released from the hospital to go home it was my mission to sip all day long. I set a timer on my phone so that every 7 minutes I would take 1/2 oz of water. It sort of sucked and I hated drinking but I knew I had to do it. My favorite part of the day was when my water app on my phone said I reached 64oz of water and I didn't have to drink the rest of the day, lol. Then came day 4. That is when regret set in. What no one really went into depth on is that when you start losing the weight your hormones go a little crazy. Your fat stores a lot of hormones and as you lose the fat there is no where for the hormones to go except crazy in your body. So I cried for about 5 days. I regretted my decision and hated myself for what I did to myself and knew there was nothing I could do to turn back time. Now this is different for everyone but for me it was awful. OK... wait... don't cancel surgery yet.... Once I got to day 9 things started to change. The hormones calmed down and I started feeling a ton better. I didn't regret my decision anymore. I also didn't cry anymore. Each day after that things got better and better. I felt better and could drink easier. I was on a very slow plan so I was only able to have clear liquids for 2 weeks, then full liquids for 2 weeks then pureed for 2 weeks, soft foods for 2 weeks and then a regular diet as tolerated. I think this had something to do with the horrible 5 days as well. Anyway, my surgeon and nurse were awesome and talked me through it when ever I called them (seriously every day for the first 9 days) and like I said each day after day 9 got better. I am 4 months out today and love life. I am down almost 60 pounds and only have 40 left to reach my goal. I feel AMAZING! I look AMAZING!! I couldn't be happier. When people ask me if I would do it all over again knowing for me that the first 9 days were hell I tell them I would in a heartbeat. It was the best $18,000 I have ever spent and I would pay double if I had to. I look at it as my price to pay for feeling and looking so great. 9 days of hell. To be honest when I was in it, it was horrible but now that I am past it it doesn't seem like it was that bad at all. Good luck and let us know if you have any other questions. I know I did in my pre-op phase.

Yes and Yes. The soreness will go away. Try using ice every 20 minutes for 20 minutes. It takes a few days but you will get better and better. Drinking does get 1 million times easier. I couldn't drink my first few days. It hurt and I couldn't get it down. I had to be re-hospitalized for a few days to get re-hydrated. Once I hit day 10 it was easier to take sips and eventually bigger drinks and now I can gulp and chug. It just takes time for your stomach to go down from being so swollen and for the incision inside to heal. Just be patient and set a timer and try to drink 1/2 and oz every 7 minutes. That's one sip. That will keep you hydrated. I did that the first 2 weeks and HATED that stupid timer, lol. When I hit my 64oz each day I was done drinking for the rest of the day - I don't recommend that but it was sort of my reward for myself. I hit my goal so now I can stop. Good Luck and Welcome to the Losers Bench! Glad to have you!

First off Happy Birthday!! It is a day to celebrate!!! It's the first Birthday of the New You!! 2ndly - I can empathize with you. I was feeling exactly like you felt when my birthday came around. I was 3 months post op and even though I could eat food I couldn't eat the way that I used to. My husband and I went out to my favorite Italian restaurant and I had 2 bites off of his plate and called it good. I couldn't eat the entire plate full, plus have my favorite desert and 2 or 3 glasses of wine. I was a little sad by it. BUT... after dinner when I got home and put on my Medium pajama pants I didn't feel so bad anymore. (I have always been an XL or a XXL) Also, when I realized that my gut didn't hurt from over stuffing it like it usually does, the feeling bad got a little better. I was also a best friend to food and will admit that still sometimes when I see others eat it makes me a little sad but it gets much better over time. You are still going through the hormone crazy phase and once that passes you will feel so much better. Good Luck and do something special for you on your Birthday like buying that item you have been eyeing or if you are like me binge watch some show on Netflix

So... 4 months out yesterday. Down almost 60lbs and honestly love life right now. Things are going pretty good except for one thing. Every single time I eat and it doesn't matter what I eat I have diarrhea. This has been going on for about 2-3 weeks now and it drives me a little crazy. It doesn't hurt and it doesn't last all day it's just when I eat about 10 minutes later I have to rush to the bathroom and go. It's typically all liquid and sometimes foamy. Any one else have this issue? I heard that constipation was common but I have never suffered from that problem. If this is the new normal I can certainly live with it it's not horrible but just wondering if anyone else deals with it.

@@jane13 Honestly it's been pretty normal. So chicken, veggies, beef, flat bread occasionally. I have been sticking to plan with eating Protein first then veggies then carbs if I have room. Breakfast every day is a light nonfat greek yogurt with blueberries or peaches. Drinking has been Water water and more water. I do have a cup of decaf coffee in the morning on my way into work and add a little sugar free creamer to it. But other then that it's just water.

Mine was about 10 days. After that I felt great and the nausea was gone completely. I'm 4 months out and life is great! Just know it keeps getting better and better!

I have BCBS of MN. I had a 6 month process to go through and they denied me. We ended up paying out of pocket and didn't go through the appeals process. If you meet the requirements you should be just fine. I don't know who you are going through as far as a surgeon but I highly recommend Dr. Jonathan Gipson out of Specialists in General Surgery. He was FANTASTIC and I wasn't just a number or another patient. He really took the time to get to know me and what I wanted and needed out of this surgery. His nurse is the best too! Liz is going to be a life long friend just because I worked so closely with her. Love them both!

It's just recently happened to me. I started losing my hair about 2 weeks ago and like everyone says I am 4 months out. I freak out about it because like DavidOso said it's my one vanity. I literally sat in the tub and cried this weekend because as I washed my hair I pulled so much out. Now on the flip side I have a TON of hair. No one but me notices and honestly I don't even notice it unless I am pulling it out My hair still looks and feels just fine

Great Value Light Greek Nonfat Yogurt - either peach or blueberry. 12g of Protein per serving and tastes great! Fills me up too!

I like some of the others kept my circle VERY VERY close pre-op. Now I honestly don't care who knows. So far no one has been really judgmental except for a very close friend of mine who knew pre-op but she has gotten over it. I find that now that I have lost almost 60lbs and look and feel better everyone wants to know "what did I do". So I tell them and tell them how wonderful the experience has been. I remember pre-op I would hear horror story after horror story and I wanted to spread some truth and good information regarding the sleeve. I also find that the people who are asking me tend to be people who would qualify for the sleeve vs. naturally thin people. I actually have referred 2 people to my surgeon who are going through with the procedure in 2016. They like us were overweight, unhappy and have numerous health concerns. Remember being that person? I am only too happy to share what I went through and how everything in my life changed because of one day. Just my opinion.

HW 240 SW 236 Today: 180 Total Loss: 56 pounds - I am almost 4 months out. Goal: 140 I am a VERY slow loser. I have had many stalls along the way and the scale only creeps down a little at a time. It drove me nuts comparing myself to others and wondering what I was doing wrong. I stopped doing that and I stopped weighing myself every day. I only weigh myself one day a week (sometimes every other week) and I just go by how I feel.

@@wannaBthinsoon I couldn't have said it better myself. I actually find understanding and a connection with obese people now. It's sort of weird in a way. I also notice how other people look at obese people and want to smack them. They have no idea what it was like to be obese and how it affected everything that you do but it's not who you are. I am what others would call "normal" now, still overweight but not obese. It's funny how I am noticed more and treated differently because of my looks.

I went through this at first too. I didn't want to really do anything. I felt that everything surrounded food and that I would feel bad about everything if I went out. It does pass. You will get into the swing of things with your new life. You will try out new things and find new hobbies. I have gone back to my normal routine with the exception of eating all the time. I still cook, clean, meet my friends, go out shopping, etc... It's just not all surrounded by food anymore.

This is very normal for all of the changes your body is going through. You will get past this at about week 6 or 7. Your body is still thinking that you are starving it and is holding onto everything and all of the energy because it's scared that you aren't ever going to feed it again. Your body will adjust to this new lifestyle and once you are allowed to eat a full diet again you will get a TON of energy. I used to go to bed at 8pm and get up at 6:30am for work every day. I had surgery and needed even more sleep. Now at almost 4 months out I go to be at 11pm get up at 6am and am energized all day long. It just takes time.

aaahh surgery day! I was just like you a ball of emotions and nervous as all heck! You are going to do fine. Keep in mind that for some people the first week can be a little hard but you do get through it. I was lucky to have my surgery at 7am so I didn't have to wait all day and freak out Just think, today is the first day of your new wonderful life! Good Luck and we will see you on the losers bench, keep us posted! aaahh surgery day! I was just like you a ball of emotions and nervous as all heck! You are going to do fine. Keep in mind that for some people the first week can be a little hard but you do get through it. I was lucky to have my surgery at 7am so I didn't have to wait all day and freak out Just think, today is the first day of your new wonderful life! Good Luck and we will see you on the losers bench, keep us posted!

The biggest thing to do is remember everyone is different and everyone looses as different rates. As Babbs said, stalls happen, you will get through them. I happen to be a slow loser and have had more stalls than I can count. I even follow my program very closely. I will say that I am down over 50 pounds in almost 4 months. Just be patient and listen to your body. Also - WATER!!! you will hear it over and over but drink, drink, drink. I was one of the unfortunate ones who was re-hospitalized for dehydration. Don't let that happen to you. It's horrible! Congratulations on being on the losers bench, it's such a wonderful place to be!

Shana55 I honestly feel amazing and look it too. It has been the best decision of my entire life. Let me know if you ever want to chat.